Q&A Pikachu Q&A Thread (Ask a Quick Question, Get a Quick Answer)

[American JEDI]

Are you jumping straight up immediately before hitting down+b? If not, you'll just fast fall to your death.

Yes, because--like many moves in Sm4sh--where and how fast you move during Pikachu's "down B" (Thunder) depends your directional momentum at the time "down B" is initiated.

@ T tebrowser - That's why you'll want to input "down B" while Pikachu is still ascending after a jump (when edge-guarding). This will give you some upward momentum or--at the very least--slow down your descent.
It takes a little practice: I recommend familiarizing yourself with the maneuver on training mode.

 

[DblCrest]

I've sorta neglected Pika in Smash Wiiu and Pocket Smash.

What are his options for KOs? Since I find myself relying on mostly his forward smash ...

 

[tebrowser]

I've sorta neglected Pika in Smash Wiiu and Pocket Smash.

What are his options for KOs? Since I find myself relying on mostly his forward smash ...

Usmash, uair at high percents, spike with lightning, or gimping

 

[M15t3R E]

I've sorta neglected Pika in Smash Wiiu and Pocket Smash.

What are his options for KOs? Since I find myself relying on mostly his forward smash ...

The slight majority of kills tend to come from Pikachu's very impressive up-smash. Then f-smash, thunder, nair, and gimping off-stage.

 

[redfeatherraven]

Happy Day After Alentine's Day, Pikas. More commonly known as Discount Chocolate Day.

 

[American JEDI]

Some of Pikachu's KILL options:

1) Up smash : Pika's "main" kill move... A fast tail swipe, with low startup and ending lag you can't go wrong. Also covers Pikachu all around (front, top, back). Use when opponents percentage color is crimson (a fine detail most people don't realize).

2) Side smash : Also a solid kill option. Has a bit more lag then up smash, but it has descent horizontal range and nice priority (the move lasts a while). A good read and good timing is all you really need.

3) Dash attack : Yep... Pika's dash attack got a nice strength buff. It's definitely a viable kill move when the opponent's percentage color is a dark crimson. Just be careful since it has quite a bit of ending lag.

Now I'll just name a few....

• "Down smash" still kills but it's nowhere near as good as previous games. Use at HIGH percentages if you want the kill off of it.
• "Tilts and Aerials" kill of stage edges at high percentages or as gimps when chasing opponents off stage. I cannot stress enough: "Pikachu's tilts & aerials are gold" . USE THEM.
• Pika's "Side B" (skull bash) is also really strong and viable option this time around. It's not necessarily a safe option though... Requires good timing, also a great punish tool!
• I'll finish with Pika's "Down B" (Thunder special): It's still a good option when opponents get sent above you OR for edge-guarding by forming the infamous "Thunder Wall", which can (1) serve as a spike, (2) hit and push opponents away from the stage (or towards it, depending on the angle), or (3) take away opponents' options for recovery, which opens more opportunities for you to kill.

Enjoy!

 

[Jaguar360]

Anyone else been finding d-throw to Thunder pretty reliable when u-throw to Thunder stops working? I don't have the exact numbers, but it worked on Mario around 115% to 180% without rage and worked against various characters in the matches I played afterwards.

I also find that pivot F-smash can be good for getting kills on a read. Offstage f-air and n-air are also good.

 

[Soul.]

Never heard of Hoo Thundah. I'll have to try that out. Up throw to Thunder is a lot more reliable though.
Perfect pivot fsmash is good yeah. Isn't the move safe on shield?

NAir and FAir are so good.

 

[Jaguar360]

I'm not sure if Hoo Thundah/Pikah! is DI-able or not, but it didn't look so. I think it's a reliable kill combo.
I think f-smash is safe on shield if you're far away enough, but I'm not sure on that either.

 

[Soul.]

Hmm. If it's reliable then it could be a decent option.
Yeah fsmash is safe on shield when you're far away.

 

[NairWizard]

f-smash is safer when it doesn't hit anything
the hitlag from landing on shield can be punished, so try to use it sparingly

pivot f-smash is a great tool

 

[Soul.]

Speaking of fsmash, when do you use fsmash. I know it is good after a jab lock (but lol heavy skull bash tho). Spacing I'm not sure.
Another way to KO on the edge of a stage is good but situational.

 

[NairWizard]

feint like you're going in for a f-air or up-air when your opponent is landing, then pivot f-smash instead

also, when your opponent is in the corner, use a b-air right in front of his face (very precise spacing, so that you land with no lag), and land. he'll get antsy and roll or try to dash attack you. that's when you pivot f-smash his movement. If he shields, just pivot f-smash again, because he won't just stand there after you whiff an f-smash

 

[CarbuncleHero]

Here's some info on Footstool to Nair. These character's footstools animations make it possible to hit with nair out of footstool. Versus Grounded and Aerial opponents:

Both Ground & Air:
Mario
Luigi
Yoshi
Game & Watch
Sheik
Duck Hunt
Charizard
Dr. Mario

Ground:
Mario
Luigi
Yoshi
Bowser Jr.
Wario
Game & Watch
Sheik
Palutena
Duck Hunt
DeDeDe
Charizard
Greninja
Dr. Mario
Pac-man
Mega Man
Sonic
*Luma can be hit during nair and the extended hitlag makes it possible to hit Rosalina after footstool. This is rare since luma is too far away in normal position.

Air:
Mario
Luigi
Bowser
Yoshi
Rosalina
Donkey Kong
Game & Watch
Sheik
Toon Link
Marth
Duck Hunt
Kirby
Fox
Charizard
Lucario
Ness
Villager
Olimar
Doctor Mario
Lucina
*For whatever reason pikachu actually goes inside of Olimar making Bair possible. Bair might be possible with other characters but less reliable.

Getting the opponent into the footstool animation is actually pretty difficult. The skullbashes work too, but I haven't found a way to hit the opponent consistently yet. Theoretically, it should work on everyone so long as you face the right direction.
Footstool to Nair is a bit situational, utilt can set it up, but it's not really worth the trouble. Remember, airdodge can buffer footstool now. Idk if this technique has been useful for anyone, but it's a possible application.
---

Also regarding the landing lag post, the lower frames actually made the 3ds more in line with the wii u.
The Wii U's ver. 1.01 already had frame data that matched 1.05, and 1.04 had more landing lag this entire time. I did all of my frame testing on the 3ds version so I never noticed the lag was different.

 

[Soul.]

1.0.4 on 3DS had more lag....? Wat.
Well it makes sense. Still weird though.

 

[Macchiato]

Thunder Burst is very interesting. hmmm, I like poking platforms with it. I'm gonna start testing all the customs and see if they have any hidden potential.

 

[Soul.]

>You
>main Pikachu

 

[Macchiato]

>You
>main Pikachu

He was always a secondary, I just have a lot more fun playing him. So are there any customs that need testing?

 

[Soul.]

Oh. Well it's good to see another Pikachu.
Distant Thunder perhaps.

 

[Macchiato]

Oh. Well it's good to see another Pikachu.
Distant Thunder perhaps.

I'l see what I can dew.

 

[Angiance]

Yes, Great Thunder has so much potential. Please test

 

[Soul.]

That's what I was saying in the custom thread.
Regular Thunder is still better, but Distant Thunder deserves a chance.

 

[Macchiato]

It's pretty straight forward. There arent any hidden hitboxes, or techs really.

I was playing on dark.pchs stream so I'll get some gameplay with me using 2312 Custom Pikachu and default pikachu and imo burst has more potential than distant. It hits from below platforms and kills crazy early, also if yew did some damage to a shield, yew can break it with burst.

 

[Soul.]

Are you saying DT has no potential. I get that it's slow and stuff but there has to be a way for it to actually work. Maybe in a different way, rather than using it the same way as regular Thunder.
Thunder Burst has mad lag.

 

[PF9]

Who here has a Pikachu Amiibo? And what are their names? I named mine The Brain after a certain cartoon character.

(As I type this I see an ad for something that in my headcanons, Pikachu enjoys eating: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.)

 

[redfeatherraven]

Who here has a Pikachu Amiibo? And what are their names? I named mine The Brain after a certain cartoon character.

(As I type this I see an ad for something that in my headcanons, Pikachu enjoys eating: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.)

I call my Pika main/Mac secondary playstyle Mac and Cheese.

I have an amiibo. I was at a loss for a name, and went with Sparx, for Bubba, whose song was stuck in my head at the time. It grew on me before I could come up with something better, and has stuck ever since.

 

[Macchiato]

Are you saying DT has no potential. I get that it's slow and stuff but there has to be a way for it to actually work. Maybe in a different way, rather than using it the same way as regular Thunder.
Thunder Burst has mad lag.

It has potential to be good but there's nothing really missing. No special techs, no hidden hitboxes. Imo the best thing to do with it is just treat it like that it's brawls Thunder. Yes Burst is laggy but it's really good. QAC it at a platform is a great way to catch your opponent off suprise. Basically Burst is more risk, more reward

 

[CarbuncleHero]

Thunder Burst is a pretty good move imo.
It's one of pikachu's best move for punishing ledge get-ups. Thunder burst has better range than the original so it can punish both normal get-up and roll get-up, and if you SH, some get-up attacks. It is one of pika's few moves that hit underneath the stage, and lasts long, so you probably could punish ledgesnaps during the 1 frame of vulnerability. Short hopping into thunder burst alleviates the start-up time basically because you can just jump over some moves, plus the end lag is no big deal if you hit.

I've experimented with all of pikachu's customs and I think at the moment that these are the order of how useful his special moves are from most useful to least useful.
Quick Attack, Heavy Skull Bash, Thunder Jolt, Thunder Wave, Quick Feet, Thunder Burst, Skull Bash, Meteor Quick Attack, Thunder Shock, Distant Thunder, Shocking Skull Bash.

Thunder Wave and Quick Feet are the only two that I think actually are better than their defaults in some cases. And heavy skull bash in all cases of course. Shocking Skull Bash is the only custom I feel that is downright useless (but it has a nice visual effect D: ). If any customs needed to be tested to see potential it would be Quick Feet, Meteor Quick Attack, then Thunder wave, and maybe Thunder Shock.
edit: it seems the start-up time for Meteor QA was lowered from 1.04. It might be slightly better than I thought since the start-up time was a huge issue before. I honestly should have done all of my testing on the wii u version :/.

 

[infomon]

This is rather unfortunate. Pika can Quick Attack right through Lylat Cruise:

That was a SmashLadder match. I went right to Training Mode and did it again in that same spot on my first try. But then I tried like 200x and couldn't do it lol.

 

[Soul.]

Once I see someone using Thunder Burst effectively I'll consider it a good move. Otherwise it's as meh as Distant Thunder.

This is rather unfortunate. Pika can Quick Attack right through Lylat Cruise:

That was a SmashLadder match. I went right to Training Mode and did it again in that same spot on my first try. But then I tried like 200x and couldn't do it lol.

Wow, what. This happened on the 3DS version too with regular Corneria.
inb4 no more Lylat

 

[| Big D |]

 

[ZephyrZ]

Howdy folks. After goofing around with Pikachu in casual battles for a few weeks, the little rat's play style really grew on me. Up-throw to Thunder just feels so satisfying when I works. Besides, I could really use a (supposedly) high tier speedster.

I'm thinking about picking him up as a secondary, so I'll be trying to lurk around here for a bit. Hope you guys don't mind having a For Glory Charizard scrub around.

 

[Angiance]

All scrubs welcome!!!

 

[Zajice]

Yup, tons of potential!

What is this, Rosalina General?


Two page late unfunny joke, don't care. Nailed it.

*moonquick attacks out of the room*

 

[Dark 3nergy]

This is rather unfortunate. Pika can Quick Attack right through Lylat Cruise:

That was a SmashLadder match. I went right to Training Mode and did it again in that same spot on my first try. But then I tried like 200x and couldn't do it lol.

Looks like your falling through the stage could of been one of a few things;

1. Stage does weird things to its collision when it turns? Looks like its the geometry on the engine asset of the stage that has the problem.
2. Pikas upb loses his collision/hurt box at one point?

I gotten the Brawl bug where I QA to the ledge and just drop in free fall without grabbing. This bug ya posted is just as bad, good you caught it now and its on youtube. Hopefully nintendo can patch that out

 

[Soul.]

Howdy folks. After goofing around with Pikachu in casual battles for a few weeks, the little rat's play style really grew on me. Up-throw to Thunder just feels so satisfying when I works. Besides, I could really use a (supposedly) high tier speedster.

I'm thinking about picking him up as a secondary, so I'll be trying to lurk around here for a bit. Hope you guys don't mind having a For Glory Charizard scrub around.

Well, you won't be a scrub anymore. lol

 

[redfeatherraven]

Well, you won't be a scrub anymore. lol

I dunno, it hasn't stopped me yet.

 

[ZephyrZ]

Well, at least I'll be an educated scrub.

 

[redfeatherraven]

Educated scrub is perfectly respectable, says the educated scrub.

But aim higher if you can, we got your back.

 

[Soul.]

I dunno, it hasn't stopped me yet.

Scrubs use Link as their ultimate win condition. Are you sure?